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Animals

October 11, 2009

Let's get the pretty out of the way, shall we? This is Green Genius. It has a very long pedigree but I like to call it Green Genius because as you can see from the buds, it's very green all over and just about the time you think they are going to be all-green flowers, the pink pops out. (The dorsal and lateral sepals are very, very chartreuse.)

Next up, we have Cattleya Chocolate Drop. These three little flowers are all we got after an incident with my sister-in-law's dog. It is making a wonderful progress recovering the attack though. I hate to think what the aroma in the greenhouse would be like if there were more than three. As it is, the scent in there is very thick.

And now we have the ugly:

Those are bats. Twenty-one of them to be exact. IN. MY. ATTIC. We are officially in bat country. I made this discovery last weekend. I had to go and get something and didn't bother to turn the light on since it was daytime and sunlight comes in through the vent in the peak of the roof. I noticed it wasn't quite as bright as usual. I flicked the light on and HELLO! There they were. I'm still creeped out. If you touch the screen, they squirm. Yikes!

July 25, 2009

My baby girl is away for 10 days. I miss her so much. She is having a ball with her cousin Madeline out in Abingdon, Virginia. I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself. The dog is getting lots and lots of extra attention. I'm also spending a lot of time with my camera.

Ascocenda Su-Fun 'Beauty'. My brother-in-law took this shot. Looks like afternoon sun, right? It was almost dark when he took it. Yes, it's lit with a flash. He is that good.

My yellow hibiscus. The blossoms are the size of salad plates.

My Phragmepedium 'Red Sky'. While I was taking this, a hummingbird tried to feed on the flower. I wish I hadn't frozen and thought to take the shot. I was so afraid to scare him off that I couldn't move.

Yes, people, there are buffalo in Virginia. There is a farm near here that has eight of them. I think at one point they were going to try to raise beefalo. That didn't work out, so now the buffalo just hang out.

February 16, 2009

My brother-in-law is a wizard with a camera. He has taken some great shots of my orchids before and I got him to take some of my new favorite plant this weekend. I had all but given up on this little fella because I though he just wasn't thriving. I thought for sure he should have been bigger by now and since I'd never had an orchid quite this small before, I had assumed he was stunted. The name pretty much says it all: Ascocentrum miniatum. To give you an idea of how small it really is, the pot is the height of a fifty cent piece.

Late one night I was watering in the greenhouse and I kept smelling something reminiscent of lemon Pledge. I soon found the source: Rhyncholaelia digbyana. This plant was tucked in a corner and although I cared for it the way I had been told, in my mind it was a goner and was headed for the trash heap. I was producing new leads but looked horrific. Apparently for this orchid, looking horrible is no indicator of plant health. Interestingly, she has no smell whatsoever during the day because the pollinator for this plant is a moth.

Here is an overall view of some of the plants in bloom right now:

And then there is my sleepy dog:

Prissy has done so well since Billie has been gone. She has been a real trooper and seems undaunted by being solo for the first time ever. We never cared much for her name when we first adopted her but we felt we couldn't change it since that's what she's known for the past 5 years. Since we are nickname fools, the inevitable has happened. We have a nickname for her that she seems to really respond to. Muffin. We have no clue why we started calling her Muffin, but looking at her now as I type this, her rear-end does rather look like a muffin top.

P.S. I call all my orchids by name and they are each distinctly male or female to me. Because I have a nickname fetish, they each have nicknames that only me or my sister-in-law understand. A lot of them are just referred to by the second part of their name. I refer to the one at the top as simply "miniatum" and the second one is simply "digbyana". There are other multi-generic orchids I have such lengthy names, so I call them whatever strikes my fancy. It cannot be stressed enough that John and I are total nicknames nerds. At the time of her death, Billie had collected somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 different nicknames.

November 07, 2008

Well, $200 later and Prissy is okay. Well, she has no major debilitating issues. We are going to keep track of the seizures and wait and see if it's going to be a trend. She's having a great day today and seems no worse for the wear.

I'm heading out to Virginia Beach now for the orchid convention and I hope to meet some nice people as nerdy as me and find out all sorts of good information and tips on my hobby.

November 06, 2008

Day six of NaBloPoMo and I almost missed a post. This just may kill me by mid-month.

My dog had 2 seizures today. My mom picked up my daughter from school and when they got home and let the dogs out, she noticed something wasn't right with Prissy the pug. Her head was hitched off to one side and she couldn't move. She was trying to walk, but was sort of stuck. Earlier this evening, she had another and it was worse. There was screaming at one point. (Her, not us.) Same as the first one, but this time her legs were spread out and even her toes were spread apart and rigid. Just before it passed, I noticed her limbs were lightly jerking. I held her (which I know you're not supposed to do when this happens because they don't know what they're doing and could hurt you) and it seemed to help soothe her. She kept looking up at me as if to say "what the hell?"

Tomorrow we head off to the vet. We'll see how that goes and try to figure out what's going on. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

October 11, 2008

Yes, it looks rough, but it's all good. (Most of what you see is scabbing. This is exceptionally good considering that her cheek was the size of a smallish ping pong ball 6 days ago.) The swelling is completely gone, the hole gave and the wound began to drain on it's own. Thank God we had plenty of antibiotics on hand. No vet bill!!! WOOT! GO US!

It's amazing the toll it took for her body to heal what would have been considered by a vet to be a very small abscess. She lost a little over a pound through the whole process - which is still not completely over. Pumpkin is getting extra food on the side when Skittles isn't around.

Skittles? Is pissed. She is jealous that Pumpkin has gotten more attention lately. She also has gotten in big trouble twice for trying to pick another fight with the already disfigured Pumpkin. Not sure what her deal is. I'm trying hard to make sure Skittles doesn't feel neglected, but she is still not pleased with Pumpkin being around. They've been buds for over 4 years. I wish I knew why the tables have turned. I sure as hell hope they turn back soon. It's exhausting being the bodyguard for a cat.

October 06, 2008

As you may (or may not) remember from my animal post, we have two dogs and two cats. Almost every evening, our home is host to Kitty Smackdown. Skittles and Pumpkin love one another, but they occasionally fight over litterbox rights and food dish privileges. It's usally not truly serious fights and we have been known to root them on since we have no lives and seek entertainment from any source possible.

Friday night? It got ugly. Not real sure why, but it got very loud and very serious. We broke it up and didn't think anymore about it. By Sunday morning, it was clear who the looser was. Pumpkin had a swollen cheek - an abcess. Apparently, cat bites are the number one cause of abscesses in cats. Lovely. Cat mouths are gross. It came on quickly and is not to freakish proportions at this point. We started her on antibiotics immediately and since there is no detectable "wound", we are hoping the antibiotics take care of it before the vet has to intervene.

Skittles has been getting the cold shoulder (understandably) from Pumpkin. Pumpkin sees her and turns the other way. We've been trying to keep them apart because Skittles seems as if she's ready to roll again. Pumpkin is just plain done with her. Poor Pumpkin. Her appetite and mood are very good and she has been her normal lovey self which is a good sign.

I hope that damn thing doesn't burst open in the house while I'm gone during the day...............

March 27, 2008

Our dog Billie has a tendency to eat things she shouldn't. She used to be really, really fat, but the tummy tuck operation* took care of that. Although she's svelte, she hasn't lost her insatiable appetite. And she does not discriminate when it comes to what type of food (or non-food for that matter) item she will gorge herself on.

Billie decided to test her ability to eat just about anything at Easter dinner this past Sunday.

My mother-in-law had a tray with a few different appetizers for everyone to snack on while she and John (husband) finished up in the kitchen. A lot of it was eaten, but there were still some crackers and an 8 ounce block of sharp cheddar cheese left over. No one thought to remove the tray with the cheese and crackers from the coffee table when we sat down to eat. No, that would have been to easy. We were all way too concerned with stuffing our guts even further on lamb and several different side dishes to be bothered with that. (Gee, I wonder where Billie gets it from?)

After dinner - which went on for some time - we all pitched in to clean up. I went into the living room to fetch the aforementioned tray from the coffee table. It was missing a certain 8 ounce block of sharp cheddar cheese. "WHERE'S THE CHEESE?" I nervously yelled form the living room. "PLEASE TELL ME SOMEONE PUT IT AWAY BEFORE DINNER." No one was forthcoming with a response. Everyone suddenly realized that it had been left out. For the entire duration of the meal. Next came "WHERE'S BILLIE?" from John. The search for cheese and the dog simultaneously began. We found no cheese. We did find Billie. Hunched over in a corner behind a wing-back chair was Billie. Looking as if she was about to barf.

She looked like hell. Her stomach was all hard and distended. She grunted loudly when she moved. I dove for the phone. Much debate ensued as to exactly how much of the cheese was consumed by the humans and how much could possibly be in the small, 11 pound dog's stomach. I phoned the emergency veterinarian's clinic.

Other than carting Billie and her huge belly down to the "200 dollars just to walk in the door ER vet clinic", the only advice the lady on the phone could offer - after she stopped laughing and telling all the other vet people what had happened so they could laugh also - was to give her a couple of teaspoons of mineral oil. Joy. The cheese was gonna hafta come out. AU NATUREL. And it would take some time before the blessed event.

Billie reluctantly took her oily dessert. She was comfortable enough to sleep through the night. If she hadn't slept pretty peacefully, I would have been worried sick. As it was, once the initial shock was over, there was much laughter later at home and mutterings like, "stupid dog" and "maybe this will teach your sorry ass" coming from my husband.

Billie lived to see another Monday. There was much urgency when she woke up in the morning and squealing at the door to go outside. The blessed event took no less than 15 to 20 minutes. NON-STOP. Needless to say, she felt much lighter, was her trim self again and even returned to the house with a boastful swagger in her step.

Undaunted and unshaken, Billie ate her breakfast. What she will attempt to tackle next is anyone's guess. I did catch her sniffing in the general direction of the Easter baskets on the buffet later that day.

*No, we did not actually give our dog a tummy tuck. The tummy tuck was a side effect of a surgery that was performed in order to remove a baby pacifier from her stomach. That's a story for another day!

March 07, 2008

The day we left for Florida, we stopped overnight in Savannah. This was the night Carter (our daughter) started with a fever and a bad cough. I thought for sure we were doomed with the flu and if, just IF we made it to our resort in Orlando that we would be laid up the entire week paying scads of money just to be sick in Disney World rather than sick at home for free. I slept a grand total of 3, maybe 4 hours and spent the rest of the time worrying that she was deathly ill.

The next morning our daughter awoke cheerily and undaunted as if the whole night of hacking and sweating with fever hadn't occurred. We decided that we would proceed to Orlando. The remainder of our trip that morning (roughly 4 hours from Savannah to Orlando) went well other than Carter throwing up her dose of Tamiflu into a Rubbermaid container lined with a plastic bag. (I am always prepared for tragedy on trips since we are generally DOOMED on vacation and someone ALWAYS gets some sort of sickness.) (Also - barfing in the car with no puke receptacle - NOT good.) We decided that we would take the medicine ourselves anyway just to be safe and that she just had a temporary bug of some sort.

Night two was spent in the Hilton overlooking Downtown Disney and we had a lovely room. Very swanky. To play it safe, we cancelled dinner at the Rainforrest Cafe, decided to stay in and order room service for dinner. We ended up only getting charged for the room service and NOT for the stay in the Hilton itself. Not sure how that happened, but I have checked our credit card statement at least 5 times now and the room charge just isn't flippin' there. GO US! Sure enough, Carter's fever returned that evening - albeit much lower than it was the previous night. The hacking cough returned as well. Fortunately, I had packed our arsenal of medications and she slept well while I lay awake in the next bed thinking surely at any time one of us was going to die.

Night three we spent in our resort which was lovely. We have stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach resort several times and this time we decided to stay at Coronado Springs since Caribbean Beach was being renovated in some areas. Night three was our official first night on Disney property and was by far right up there as one of the worst nights in my life. Carter had no fever, but this hacking cough would NOT stop. I felt so sorry for her and also us because there was no sleeping in the room with the constant barking. I thought for sure one of the neighbors would turn us into the front desk for child neglect or something, but there was just nothing we could do until it subsided. We sat her in the bathroom with the shower going and later John and I took turns walking her around out in the moist air outside and around 1 a.m. that seemed to finally give her some relief. I put her to bed and she soon passed out. This was when the REAL FUN began!

Just about the time we began to drift off to sleep ourselves after we were certain that Carter was better and sleeping well...............

"Someone will call the front desk and put an end to that crap" John thought aloud. Although this time it sounded as if it had moved much closer to the building. As if it would be on our balcony at any moment.

(Yes, it was always six screaming squawks in a row.) I said "John! It's some sort of crazed bird! In the middle of the freaking night!" "Great" he mutters. We called the front desk. They said they would find out what was happening. For the next 30 to 45 minutes, the squawking continued and it was LOUD AS HELL and he might as well have BEEN IN THE DAMN ROOM WITH US. We would randomly hear other guests rustling around and opening their doors to see what was going on. We would also hear on occasion one of the maintenance guys in their little golf carts drive by on the path below. Devil Bird did not care. Devil Bird squawked in spite of everything and everyone. (The child was unmoved. She slept through it ALL. Oh dear LORD to be able to sleep like that again!)

By 2:30 a.m. I had had it. I threw on some flip flops grabbed my camera, and headed out to do battle with Devil Bird. (The camera was in case I could scare him away with the flash.) Of course, once I got a ways down the stairs, he stopped. If he was not squawking, I would not be able to locate him. I waited for what seemed like forever and then headed back to the room. On my way down the corridor, a light and something large and white in a neighboring room caught my eye.

Five rooms down, the lights were all on. The drapes were wide open. On the bed nearest the window was a person. Nude. Back to the window. I kid you not. I was shocked and began high-tailing it for our room. But I became very curious and crept back down for a quick peek. Well, it was not completely nude. The person had black socks on and a black shirt that was partially pulled up around his/her shoulders. The person's skin was almost as pale as mine. So white in fact that it had a blue cast to it. I stood there peeking from around the corner absolutely perplexed and wondering if I was suffering from some sort of sleep- deprived hallucination. I was also trying to figure out A.) was it male or female and B.) what the hell was wrong with it?

The lack of body hair made me think it was a woman. The black socks and the stocky frame made me think it was a man. Whoever and whatever it was, they weren't the youngest person in the world because the ass and back skin was sort of hanging off to one side onto the mattress. More to the point was - what the hell was wrong with this person? I noticed the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and thought they must be passed out drunk and/or are trying to lure a date while on vacation. Having the camera in hand, I briefly thought of taking a picture because well, there was no way in HELL anyone would believe this. I decided against it because I didn't want to get arrested if said drunk, nude, flabby person should awaken and realize I was taking his/her picture.

Well, being sleep deprived and all jacked up because of Devil Bird, I got punchy. Hysterical. Laughing like a moron. I dashed back to the room and told John. He promptly crept down to see and sure enough, I wasn't hallucinating. Devil Bird was slacking off in his serenade, but naked person sort of made Devil Bird old news. We were hysterical. I thought I was going to piss in my pants I was laughing so hard. Finally, we settled down and Devil Bird either left or decided to call it a night and we fell asleep. But I am left wondering:

1. Was that a man or a woman?

2. What the hell was wrong with that person that they had the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door for THREE solid days?

3. Was he/she dead? (Believe me, that thought stuck in my head for a while and I was imagining having to give a statement to the police about how I accidentally saw this dead, naked person while out on the hunt for a Devil Bird at 2:30 in the morning.)

4. What was the deal with Devil Bird and did the sight of the naked, flabby, ghostly white person disturb this bird so much that he needed to let the world know of his misery?

These are questions I may never know the answers to. Thankfully, we called Carter's doctor the next morning and she called in a new prescription for the cough and she was much better the rest of the week. Devil Bird held one last brief performance along WITH a couple of his buddies on our last night there. We promptly called the front desk again and let them know under no uncertain terms that they had a serious bird problem and needed to take care of it immediately.

(John didn't mention that they had a dead, naked person in their hotel.)